Climate Leadership Network Working Groups

About

The strength of the Climate Leadership Network lies in its diversity and collective knowledge. To tap into these resources, Second Nature periodically convenes Working Groups that tackle relevant topics and help to create new tools. These working groups are composed of volunteers from signatory institutions, and the work and conclusions they draw are harnessed and shared broadly for the benefit of the Network. A working group looks at a specific question (or set of questions) with a possible product outcome.

Resilience Assessment

Formed February 2017 (Active)

The Resilience Assessment Working Group is helping refine the process of implementing the Climate or Resilience Commitment. The group is developing the resilience assessment that signatories undertake in their second year, including working with the community, boundary setting, and indicators & metrics. The group is also sharing best practices and identifying resources to help signatories successfully incorporate resilience into their climate action planning.

If you are interested in joining this group, please contact Ruby Woodside.

Advanced Carbon Mitigation

February 2017 – (Active)

The Advanced Carbon Mitigation Working Group is made up of signatories who are in the final stages of implementing their Climate Action Plans and approaching their carbon neutrality date, many at or before 2020. The group will be exploring methods of achieving large carbon reductions beyond the “low-hanging fruit” and seeking ways to scale successful solutions across the Climate Leadership Network. Topics may include scaled renewable energy purchases, development of bundled offset portfolio purchases, and developing solutions to some of the current stumbling blocks to carbon neutrality.

If you are interested in joining this group, please e-mail commitments@secondnature.org.

Carbon Offsets

October 2015 – October 2016

This group formed as the result of networking sessions at the 2015 AASHE conference. Signatories expressed interest in exploring new topics in institution-funded (“local”) offset projects and the challenges of implementing existing offset protocols at the campus scale. Second Nature had also just released the Sustainability Planning & Climate Action Guide and felt that an update and revision of the sections related to carbon offsets was needed. The Working Group undertook this revision process and greatly expanded the guidance on carbon offsets and markets. Many members of this group are still active in forming the OffsetNetwork.org to support colleges & universities that are developing on-campus offset projects.

Data Metrics

February – May 2016

The Data Metrics Working Group assessed the data and metrics within the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) reporting platform to help identify the impactful data that drives action at individual campuses and demonstrates collective progress for all Climate Commitment signatories. The results of this effort helped inform the update to the Second Nature Reporting Platform and reports for the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments.

IL Leadership Circle

2009-2016

The Implementation Liaison (IL) Leadership Circle was a longtime resource for ILs in the Climate Leadership Network. Composed of champions who have implemented innovative sustainability and climate action strategies on their campuses, these volunteers provided peer-to-peer support to individuals responsible for implementing the Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitments at signatory institutions. Thank you to all of the different ILs who have served in this capacity throughout the years.